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Published: March 14th 2009
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Mount Ruapehu
Both Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe are Active Volcanos and Rhuapehu is one of the most active volcanos in the world and is the largest active volcano in New Zealand I left Wellington at 8am and headed to Taupo, along the way i noticed that the scenery was a lot more baron in the north island and most of the landscape was farmland where as in the south island a lot of it was national park and forests. When we arrived at the outskirts of Taupo i could see 2 mountains one called Mount Ruapehu and the other Mount Ngauruhoe or Mount Doom as its also known as it was used in the Lord of the Rings movie. Other then The lord of the rings movie Taupo is famous for the lake that it surrounds called Lake Taupo which is a giant volcano crater, the lake is the largest lake in New Zealand, with a surface area of 616 square kilometers it could house the whole of Singapore one and a half times! I was originally going to do my skydive here in Taupo as it's meant to be one of the cheapest places to do it but as you know i changed my mind and did it in Mission Beach instead so other then skydive i looked to see what else there was to do as i was only in
Taupo for one day.
After checking in and putting my bags in my room i asked at the reception to see what they could suggest, after going through various things she mentioned seeing the Māori Rock Carvings and i remembered someone telling me they were really good so i booked my place on the last boat that goes out to where the carvings were at 5pm and as it was half two i decided to have a wander around town before hand. The Carvings were done on a cliff face at the edge of the lake and the only way to see them was by boat, the boat i was on was called the Barbary and it had a very interesting history, it was built in 1926 and raced in California, in 1938 it was won in a card game by Errol Flynn who was a famous movie star and in 1973 it joined Greenpeace in the Pacific to protest against the french nuclear tests being done there. After the ferry trip to Wellington i was a bit pessimistic about going on a boat again but it was a really calm day and the journey was quite relaxing.
Mount Ngauruhoe
A.K.A Mount Doom-There were loads of clouds so its not a very good photo and you can't see the top When we got to the carvings our captain explained about the different carvings and what they represented and the meanings behind them. Although they look old they were actually done in 1979 by two Māori artists, the main carving is named Ngatoroirangi after the high priest who according to Māori legend brought volcanoes to Nz and is meant to protect the lake from erupting. The only other people on the trip were a group of four American girls that were in New Zealand studying at Auckland University, we were chatting the whole way and really got on and they said i should text them when i get to Auckland and they will show me around. After spending some time at the carvings we set off again and i had a go at sailing the boat whilst the captain made us some hot drinks (I had Milo again) and he cast out a fishing line to see if he could catch any of the Rainbow trout that fill the lake and literally within a minute he had something, it was only small and as the girls seemed quite squeamish about it so he threw it back.
The whole way out
Mount Ngauruhoe
This photo is from Wikipedia just to show you what it looks like on a clear day to the carvings there wasn't any wind so we got out there using the motors but on the way back we got a really good gust of wind and had all four sails up, at some points the boat was leaning almost horizontal to the water but the captain assured us this was normal. After about 2 and half hours on the lake we got back to the harbour and got off, i really enjoyed myself and it was fantastic value as it worked out at less then £14 for the whole thing. After the boat trip we walked around for a little while and got some pizza before calling it an early night as i had yet another early start the next morning and the American girls were all going skydiving first thing the next morning. Although i was only in Taupo for not even a full day i really enjoyed myself and felt i made the most of the time i had there, next I'm heading north to a place called Rotorua.
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